1. A flurry of Apple rumors can only mean one thing: The annual Macworld show is right around the corner. Which of the following rumors is more than just a rumor?
a. Apple will finally unveil a netbook
b. The Mac Mini is getting an upgrade
c. A nano iPhone will be revealed
d. Steve Jobs isn't giving the keynote this year
2. Now that Jobs has bowed out, which Apple executive gets to fill his shoes as keynote speaker?
a. Tim Cook
b. Phil Schiller
c. Peter Oppenheimer
d. Scott Forstall
3. According to a Harris Interactive poll, what percentage of U.S. women say they'd rather give up sex than the Internet for two weeks?
a. 16
b. 26
c. 36
d. 46
4. Microsoft has issued its second out-of-cycle security patch in the last two months to fix a critical flaw that's already being exploited by attackers. Which product is the patch supposed to patch?
a. IE6
b. IE7
c. IE8 Beta 2
d. All of the above
5. Last week, the Australian Supreme Court ruled that The Simpsons are real people, at least when it comes to online porn. This week it established another high-tech first. What did the court do?
a. Heard direct testimony via streaming video
b. Allowed legal papers to be served through Facebook
c. Delivered a verdict via text messaging
d. Declared Fred Flintstone a deadbeat dad
6. When an Apple fanboy known only as Sam sent his MacBook Pro to Apple to be fixed, repair techs found a surprise inside, according to The Consumerist blog. What did they find?
a. Crackerjacks
b. A screwdriver
c. An iPod Nano
b. Ladybugs
7. The iPhone: a cell phone, a pocket Web device, and a gaming machine. Which of the following popular game titles has not yet migrated to the iPhone?
a. Dance Dance Revolution
b. Metal Gear Solid
c. SimCity
d. Grand Theft Auto
8. Truste and the Ponemon Institute have named the companies that consumers trust most to protect their data. Which of the following tech companies ranked highest?
a. Amazon
b. eBay
c. Yahoo
d. Google
9. "Broadband providers ... should not be allowed to prioritize traffic based on the source, ownership or destination of the content. ... [T]hey shouldn't be able to leverage their unilateral control over consumers' broadband connections to hamper user choice, competition, and innovation." Who's striking a strong blow for net neutrality?
a. Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig
b. President-Elect Barack Obama
c. Google counsel Richard Whitt
d. Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn
10. Take the subscriber milestone just passed by AT&T's U-verse service and multiply it by the number of days Yahoo says it will now retain user search data before scrubbing it. Add the current number of active Facebook users, according to the social network.
a. 230
b. 230,000
c. 230 million
d. 2.3 billion
Answer key
Question 1: What Macworld rumor is actually true?
10 points
d. Steve Jobs isn't giving the keynote this year
Yes, both Apple and Jobs are saying to the long-running trade show that's become synonymous with Jobsian showmanship. Jobs' normal dog-and-pony will be given by another Apple exec (see Question 2), while Apple plans to bow out of the show next year. I dunno -- Macworld without Jobs is like Christmas without The Santa Clause.
Question 2: Who's filling Steve Jobs' size 17 EEE Keds at the next Macworld Expo?
10 points
b. Phil Schiller
That unenviable task falls to , senior VP of worldwide product marketing. We hope he knows some really good magic tricks.
Question 3: What percentage of women would rather be surfing than spooning?
10 points
d. 46
According to a poll sponsored by Intel and conducted by Harris Interactive, of women surveyed say they can live without their man (or other partner) for 14 days, but not their mice. Only 30 percent of men would trade nighttime nookie for Internet cookies, by the way. What this says about the Net, women, or the men in their lives we dare not hazard to guess.
Question 4: Which Microsoft browser got an emergency Rx this week?
10 points
d. All of the above
The flaw can be used to that use IE to visit an infected Web site. Researchers have identified at least 10,000 sites -- including some legitimate ones -- that are exploiting the IE bug, which also affects IE5 and Outlook Express. The good news? This might convince your spouse to get off the Net for a few minutes so that you can get reacquainted.
Question 5: What new cyberlaw precedent was just set by the Aussies?
10 points
b. Allowed legal papers to be served through Facebook
The Aussie court allowed a to be delivered to a couple's Facebook account (as well as via e-mail and to their last known address). No word whether the deadbeat couple threw a sheep back in response.
Question 6: What surprise did Apple repair techs find inside Sam's MacBook?
10 points
d. Ladybugs
At first, Apple refused to repair the defective MacBook, the ladybugs inside. (Because, as we all know, Apple machines are never buggy.) After a swarm of bad publicity, Apple relented and gave Sam a new pest-free MacBook.
Question 7: What popular game has yet to make its debut on the iPhone?
10 points
d. Grand Theft Auto
EA's SimCity just of iPhone game titles, and Konami's Metal Gear Solid and Dance Dance Revolution are coming shortly (though the latter is strangely lacking in actual dancing). As for GTA? Maybe it's too satanic for the . Or maybe the bad boys at Rockstar Games just too busy counting their money to develop yet another version.
Question 8: What tech company has the best rep for protecting your personal info?
10 points
b. eBay
In the fifth annual survey on privacy and trust, the ranked second overall behind American Express. Amazon (No. 4) and Yahoo (No. 14) also made the top 20, as did IBM, HP, Apple, Intuit, WebMD, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, Dell, and eLoan -- but not Google. Memo to Sergey and Larry: Don't look now, but your evil is showing.
Question 9: Who seems to be a staunch supporter of net neutrality?
10 points
c. Google counsel Richard Whitt
In the , Whitt responded to what he called "a confused story in Monday's Wall Street Journal" suggesting that Google was backing off its commitment to unfettered flow of bits across the Internets. Apparently, the WSJ reporters confused Google's with cashing out.
Question 10: What's U-verse subs times Yahoo scrubs plus Facebook schlubs?
10 points
c. 230 million
The 1 millionth customer just signed on to get HDTV, Internet, and voice over AT&T's hybrid fiber/copper U-verse network. Yahoo says it will now scrub its user search logs after 90 days, or six months sooner than Google currently does. There are now a whopping 140 million Facebook users, a number that's growing by 600,000 each day. So 1M * 90 + 140M = 230M. And that's not even including all the sheep. Tune in next week for our blockbuster year-end quiz that will determine just how closely you've been paying attention over the past 12 months. In the meantime, have a grand holiday and a safe New Year's.